


Come Clean

by schizoauthoress



Category: The Simpsons
Genre: Drabble Chain, F/M, Referenced Adultery, non-slang usage of the word "bastard"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 13:26:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11921847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schizoauthoress/pseuds/schizoauthoress
Summary: It could be a day. It could be the rest of our lives... Calliope finds out just who she spirited away from Springfield.[set during "Flaming Moe" (Season 22, Episode 11), references "The Principal and the Pauper" (Season 9, Episode 2)]





	Come Clean

When they're far away from Springfield -- in a motel, Melody already asleep -- he tells Calliope the truth. He loves how she says 'Seymour' with such joy, but...

"My name isn't Seymour," he confesses, "Not really. I couldn't tell you in Springfield. It's illegal to discuss there."

She regards him with new wariness, and he doesn't reach for her hand like he wants to. He smiles, sheepishly.

"So, who are you?" Calliope asks. 'Who have I let into my life, and near my daughter?' goes unspoken, but is clear on her face.

"My name is Armin Tamzarian. Seymour is my brother."

****

"Your brother."

"Half-brother, actually." Armin said. "We didn't know when we met in Vietnam--"

"You were in _Vietnam_ , too?" Calliope interrupted. 

The hurt in her tone rankled. Armin snapped, "Drafted, yes."

"Oh."

"I couldn't afford college. Ma raised me alone. Seymour's mother was the one married to our father."

The softness, the familiar gentle concern, was back on Calliope's face. "Why do you use 'Seymour' as your name?"

Armin coughed. "He went missing. Thought dead. I volunteered to deliver the news, but... his mother hugged me, called me 'Seymour'..."

"And you went along with it."

"It was... easier than explaining."

****

Calliope took hold of his hand. Armin found he couldn't look at her, suddenly afraid the disgust -- or worse, pity -- would be in her eyes.

"It was stupid," he said.

" _Your_ mother was gone... wasn't she?" Calliope asked. An easy deduction, perhaps, but he still flinched.

"Yes."

"It wasn't stupid," she argued. "It's just human."

"I think she knew," Armin said quietly. "Mother. Seymour's mother. She had to know I wasn't her son. But I think she knew I was Sheldon Skinner's bastard. That's why she has always been cruel."

Calliope's arms were warm -- and safe -- wrapped tightly around him.

****

"Thank you," she said, "for trusting me with the truth."

Armin laughed bitterly. "You're the only person who's ever said _that_ , Calliope."

"Who else have you told?"

"Willingly? No one. The town found out I lied because Seymour returned to take his life back." Armin sighed. "He isn't like me. They hated the change, ran him out of town, and refuse to acknowledge I'm not _really_ Walter Seymour Skinner."

"They make you live a lie."

"No, I'm... not expect to act much different than normal. After all, I'm the Seymour they know. I just don't want to lie to _you_."

****

That was the right thing to say, he realized, when Calliope laughed and kissed him. She pulled back so only their noses touched, and murmured, "Whatever you call yourself, I like you a lot. Okay?"

"Okay," he said happily. "Call me Armin?"

"I can do that."

She snuggled up to him like nothing had changed, and it felt like a weight had lifted from his lop shoulders. Armin joked gently, "If you happen to have any dark secrets, now would be the time to confess."

Calliope giggled. "Well... I can't actually play the calliope?"

"My word!" Armin cried, feigning shock.

****

"I beg your forgiveness!" Calliope intoned formally. "Will you ever be able to move on from my deception by omission?"

Despite her playfulness, Armin replied seriously, "If you can do the same for me, I swear I will."

Someone else might have laughed, or teased him for sounding so stiff. But Calliope looked into his face and said, just as seriously, "It's a deal, Armin."

He hugged her tightly.

"The mechanic says she's got the part to fix the van. Any destination in mind?"

"We could find a circus," Armin suggested, grinning, "get you a calliope lesson."

"....oh, you're _on_."

**Author's Note:**

> Look, if they wanted us to forget about the reveal of "The Principal and the Pauper", then they shouldn't have referenced it in "I, D'oh-Bot".
> 
> Just to be clear, the familial connection between Sgt. Walter Seymour Skinner and Armin Tamzarian is my personal fanon. :)


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